Mariano Rajoy, Spain’s prime minister, steered the embattled nation towards a €300bn (£237bn) bailout yesterday as he said he was ready to act “in the best interests of the Spanish people”.

Mr Rajoy, who is struggling to convince dubious markets that he can bring Spain’s deficit back under control, has already asked for €100bn from Europe’s bailout pot for its debt-laden banking system. He inched closer to seeking a full-blown rescue yesterday as he said Madrid would have to carefully examine the conditions of such a bailout.

His comments came after European Central Bank president Mario Draghi disappointed markets on Thursday by failing to deliver immediate aid to turbulent debt markets, which have pushed Spain’s cost of borrowing to unsustainably high levels.

Mr Draghi said the central bank was considering buying up the debt of eurozone strugglers, but crucially he also stressed that nations themselves would have to formally request a bailout from the European Financial Stability Facility. This is likely to come with harsh financial conditions and austerity measures.